NYC Desk Appearance Ticket Attorneys

Public Lewdness/Exposure of a Person (PL 245.00, PL 245.01)

Click here to learn more about Desk Appearance Tickets, generally.

 

Public Lewdness (PL 245.00, a Class B misdemeanor) and Exposure of a Person (PL 245.01, a violation) are frequently charged simultaneously. The first charge applies to those individuals alleged to have engaged in some “lewd act” in public, which generally includes sex acts with another person or masturbating. The second charge, Exposure of a Person, applies to those individuals that intentionally expose their private parts in public; naturally, someone doing the first is probably also doing the second. 

 

Typically, if police discover two people engaged in a sex act in public (oftentimes in the back seat of a car, in a public park, or in a public bathroom), both individuals will be arrested and charged in the same way via Desk Appearance Ticket. 

 

We have seen prosecutors treat these cases in wildly different ways; sometimes a favorable plea bargain is relatively easy to secure, and other times the prosecutors insist upon significant counseling efforts. Our team of attorneys includes a former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor and has successfully defended against numerous such cases in the past, resulting in dismissals or very favorable plea bargains that permitted our clients to avoid serious professional and immigration consequences.

 

The maximum legal penalty for a conviction of this charge is 90 days in jail. One can also be sentenced to one year of probation. More typical results for these cases for first time offenders include non-criminal dispositions with community service or counseling.

   

The potential penalties from this Desk Appearance Ticket:

Up to 90 days in jail.

Up to 1 year of probation.

Community service.

Alcohol, drug, or behavioral counseling.

Employment problems.